WEST PASCO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Orange Lake

Orange Lake is believed to be a natural sinkhole, not a man made lake. The earliest known name for what is now called Orange Lake is Blue Sink. The name was certainly in use by 1888, as an article in the Ohio Democrat of Feb. 9, 1888, reported, “Another pretty drive is to the famous Blue Sink, one of those marvelous spots where in some past generation the land and all upon it disappeared. It is very beautiful, circular in form and filled with water blue as indigo. The banks slope gently down and all around are giant pines, that stand as grim sentinels and custodians of the secret of the spot.” In 1891 a Handbook of Florida Charles Ledyard Norton reported, “A short distance south of the Kootee is Blue Sink, a curious natural well with rocky sides.”

In 1913 a newspaper article referred simply to “the lake in the town of Port Richey.”

Presumably because the name Blue Sink was applied to numerous deep sinkholes in Florida, the name of the lake was changed. The name Orange Lake is used in a 1915 brochure produced by the Port Richey Company. The name also appears in a 1916 newspaper article.

Several 1920s post cards depicting the lake call it Mirror Lake. However, on one of the post cards, someone wrote on the back that he had made a mistake, that Mirror Lake was in St. Petersburg, and that this lake was called Orange Lake. In 1921 the Dade City Banner called it Mirror Lake, but as far as is known, the Port Richey Press and New Port Richey Press never used the name Mirror Lake.

In a 1979 newspaper article, Wilfred T. Neill wrote, “In the early days of West Pasco settlement, the present Orange Lake was called Blue Sink. The heavily forested area around it was known as the Jungle or the Devil's Woodyard. Local settlers, what few of them there were, despised the Jungle because cattle and hogs were forever straying off into it. At that time there were large alligators in Blue Sink (just as there are still a few in the nearby Cotee River today.) Livestock sometimes fell prey to alligators in the sinkhole, so the settlers built a fence around it.”

The first sizable building to overlook Orange Lake was the Sass Hotel, constructed in 1911-1912. It had parlors, dining and dancing rooms, a veranda with a view of the lake. It also had an electric generator before the town of New Port Richey was wired for electricity. The hotel burned to the ground on the night of May 25, 1926.

In the 1910s and 1920s developers in New Port Richey used the beauty of both Orange Lake and the Pithlachascotee River to attract land buyers. Both bodies of water appeared frequently in advertising and post cards. A racetrack was built around the lake.

A small golf course was developed around Orange Lake in the 1920s, in part by famed golfer Gene Sarazen, who lived in New Port Richey. Frances Mallett said that the golf course was developed so that the children could have a place to play. She said that he was trying to get kids interested in golf and she recalled playing on the course when she was 12 years old.

In a city election on December 3, 1935, New Port Richey voters decided by a vote of 131-29 to discontinue the golf course and use the property around Orange Lake as a park only.

George R. Sims, who was one of New Port Richey's early promoters and who donated Sims Park (then Enchantment Park) to the city, died in 1954. In accordance with his instructions, he was buried about 50 feet from Orange Lake. There was no tombstone, only a redbud tree planted to mark the spot. However, some years later his remains were moved to a cemetery.

Wilfred T. Neill wrote in 1979:

Did you know that New Port Richey once had a Dutch community? It was situated between Washington Street and Boulevard North. Arrows directing travelers to the community were in the shape of a Dutch wooden shoe, and each shoe bore the words “Little Holland.” If I remember correctly, the present Mitchell Court was then called Mooi Avenue (mooi meaning beautiful in Dutch.) And I think the residents of Little Holland came here from Holland, Mich. But in any event, one of these residents had painted huge religious scenes on boards, and every Christmas season he would set them up around Orange Lake. If you were here in the late 1950s and early 1960s, you may remember that each Christmas the lake was completely ringed with painted panels.

The tradition of lighted Christmas cards around Orange Lake has been restored in recent years.

In 1974, on the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of New Port Richey, a time capsule was buried not far from the shores of Orange Lake. A polished stone set into the ground on the south side of the lake marks the place where the time capsule was buried.

A fire which destroyed four businesses in downtown New Port Richey on June 3, 1987, sent lawn chemicals into nearby waterways. Several dead and sick ducks that had been in the contaminated water of Orange Lake were sent to a laboratory for toxicology tests. More than 11,000 dead fish were found in Orange Lake in the days after the fire. Some of the fish ended up in an overflow pipe at the lake and entered a storm drain under downtown New Port Richey, sending a foul smell through the streets.

In 2003 the city of New Port Richey purchased the Hacienda Hotel, and in 2005 the city purchased the First Baptist Church property on Orange Lake.

In January 2006 Quality Holdings of Florida submitted plans to build 16 condominium units, a parking garage, and up to four buildings for shops, restaurants, and offices that would wrap around half of Circle Boulevard. The project was named The Landings at Orange Lake. In 2007 the company withdrew its proposal.